Fuel



UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

FUEL.

No Drawing. Original application filed September 23, 1919, Serial No.325,771.

cation filed October 28, 1920.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. URQU- HART, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city of Newark, in the county of Essex and Stateof New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments inFuels, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to fuels, and more particularly to thekind of fuel produced by the process described and claimed in mycopending application filed September 23, 1919, Serial No. 325,771, ofwhich this application is a; division.

Certain substances herein called low grade coals comprising particularlylignite and also such substancesas peat and the like are unsatisfactoryfor use as fuels in the condi tion in which they come from the de osits.The high volatile content is productive of smoke and the presence of thelight volatile matter and water causes rapid disintegra tion, both whenthe lignite (which is hereinafter used as illustrative of all low gradecoals) is stored and during combustion.

This tendency to disintegrate causes the lig-' nite to crumble so rapidlin the fire box that a large percentage 0 it fails unburnt through thefire grates and is thereby lost.

It has been proposed heretofore to treat such low grade coals as ligniteso as to prevent them from disintegrating both in storage and duringcombustion. To this end, lignite has been briqueted, but it has beenfound that unless the Volatile substances have been removed beforebriqueting, the disintegrating characteristics still remain to a largeextent. And on the other hand, where the lignite is retorted orcarbonized and the disintegrated or crumbled substance obtainedtherefrom is briqueted, much dificulty has been experienced in providing binders which will be constant in analysis so as to produceboulets and briquets consistent in weathering ualities. Moreover, thecost of apparatus for riqueting is relatively large. Consequently, themaking of briqueted fuel from substances such as lignite and other lowgrade coals, is not at present a commercial proposition of any greatmoment.

The object of the present invention is to produce from low grade coalssuch as lignite and the like, a fuel which will have the ap-Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

Divided and this appli- Serial .No. 420,274.

pearance, qualities and burning characteristics of hard coal. Thisprepared fuel is produced without converting the lignite or other lowgrade coals into boulets or briquets. The crude lump lignite is treatedin the condition in which it comes from the mine and is preserved wholein its lumpy condition so that the fuel prepared from the raw materialis-kept substantially in the original lump form. This prepared fuel willnot disintegrate either in storage or during combustion and can behandled like ordinary hard coal with but little crumbling. The processby which the fuel is produced can be practised in one retort orcontainer with no further handling than is necessary to charge it intothe retort and to discharge it therefrom upon the completion of theprocess. The apparatus used for producing the improved fuel may,therefore, be simple and inexpensive and the process used may be carriedon at small cost comparatively to the value of the product.

The improved fuel of the present invention is a low grade-coal which hasbeen treated invlump form toopen up cracks or interstices therein sothat a suitable binder may be introduced into the coal, after which thecoal and binder are fused together and carbonized. One method or processof producing the fuel of the, present invention is described and claimedin my said application. It will" be understood, however, that othermethods or processes may be employed for producing the fuel, the objectbeing to so treat the lignite' or other low grade coal that it willcontinue in substantially its original form and yet have all thecharacteristics of a high grade hard coal which may be handled andburned without liability of crumbling. A convenient process forproducing the improved fuel is to inclose lumps of lignite or other lowgrade coal in a suitable retort and raise the temperature of the retortso as to drive off a portion of the water content from the lignite andsome of the lighter volatile matters and continue this step until cracksappear in the lignite. Into the cracks there is introduced a suitablebinder such as melted pitch. When the binder has become sufficientlyviscous to have a binding effect, the temperature of the lignite israised sufliciently to drive off the remainder of the water content andsuch of the volatile matters as can be driven off under the meltingpoint of the pitch. When the lignite has been deprived of all of itshygroscopic water so that there is no longer any liability of itdisintegrating under heat, the temperature of the retort is rapidlyraised until the lignite and the binder fuse together and carbonize.With some lignites it has been found necessary to .repeat the steps ofintroducing the binder and fusing.

By opening up cracks in the low grade coal and introducing a suitablebinder into the cracks and then fusing the binder and low grade coaltogether and there'by carbonizing. them, a prepared fuel is producednized that it may be produced by processes other than that outlinedabove.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is: V

1. As an article of manufacture, a fuel made from low grade ligniticcoal and a binder fused together, said fuel being in substantially thelump form in which the coal comes from the deposit. v

2. As an article of manufacture, a hard anthracite-like fuel made fromlow grade lignitic coal and a binder, said fuel being in substantiallythe lump form .in which the coal comes from the deposit.

3. As an article of manufacture, a diflicultly friable and carbonizedfuel made from low grade lignitic coal and a binder, said fuel being insubstantially the lump form in which the coal comes from the deposit.

4. As an article of manufacture,- a fuel made from low grade ligniticcoal and a carbonizable binder, said fuel being carbonized and insubstantially the lump form in which the coal comes from the deposit.

CHARLES H. URQUHART.

